This invention relates to a composition of mainly mineral materials which can be formed into a solid block for encasing objects which can be recovered by chipping the material of the block to expose the objects.
It is already known to provide toys or demonstration models in which objects are encased in a chipable mineral solid material so that the student or child can use suitable tools to carefully chip away the solid mineral material to expose the encased objects.
Although the present invention is particularly concerned with paleontology so that the encased objects are preferably simulated bones or other simulated animal remains, the present invention is riot limited to this type of object and other objects may be similarly encased with the composition to which the present invention is directed.
One previous mineral type composition of this type used in a paleontology toy has been formed by mixing molten wax, chick grit, clay and sand. However this product has been very difficult and dangerous to manufacture in suitable numbers of product and in addition the chipping qualities of the product are somewhat inconsistent. Another relatively crude product of this type has simply used a solid wax to surround the objects but this does not have the mineral simulation to the type of mineral found in nature. In another arrangement, a clay substance can be scraped from the underlying objects but this is very dusty and therefore unacceptable as a toy in most homes.
It will be appreciated that the chipping characteristics of the solid material must be such that the material breaks down into relatively small pieces to provide a relatively slow rate of breakdown of the block, without crumbling to dust, and without those pieces being broken off with high velocity in the chipped parts generated by high impact forces necessary to split off the chipped parts.